A San Antonio, Texas, man claimed in a Facebook post that he paid someone to spread coronavirus at grocery stores. Over the last four decades, at least 26 states passed laws to criminalize HIV exposure. Several studies have found HIV criminalization laws targeted minorities, said Brad Sears, associate dean of Public Interest Law at UCLA Law School. But, he said, as the pandemic is increasingly concentrated in poor Americans and people of color, that could change states' appetites for criminalization efforts. In New Jersey, Republican Senator Kristin Corrado's bill to punish anyone convicted of threatening to spread COVID-19 with up to 10 years behind bars and a $150,000 fine was before the Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee this week.

Source: bd News24 May 14, 2020 18:45 UTC